With a tug on my line, I realized all my hard work had come to fruition. Waking up at 5:30 to haul all my supplies out to the river and get a good spot was all worth it for this one moment, and hopefully more. At first it was just a small tug; only a sampling nibble, but then there was a yank on the line. I had one. I quickly set the hook, and started reeling her in. In the excitement of the moment, I barely noticed my little brother screaming, “You caught one! You caught one!” All that mattered was bringing that fish in to me. After what seemed like an hour, I finally managed to land the fish. I chanced a look down at what I had worked so hard for, only to find that it was about the size of a stick of butter.

Fishing is the ultimate test of patience, finesse, and determination. A lot of the time you spend is spent waiting, in fact most of it is. This is something you have to accept and embrace about fishing, because you never know if that whopper you always dreamed of catching will be your next bite.

My first time fishing was with my dad and brothers, at the lake we lived near to. I was excited to fish, because it was brand new to me, and I loved to be like my dad. He baited my hook for me, as I bounced in anticipation of what we were about to do. I put my line down in the water, expecting a fish to bite right away, but nothing happened. I just about gave up then, but my dad told me I had to be patient for the fishes to bite, so I waited. And waited some more. I kept waiting for what seemed to my kid mind to be at least two hours, at which point my brother caught a fish. I was so jealous and tired of waiting; I quit right then and there.

I hated fishing until about seventh grade, but this changed when my family took a vacation down to Arkansas. Every morning bright and early we would go out to the river and fish for rainbow trout. The first day they didn’t bite at all, nor did they bite the second day. But on the third day, I felt a nibble. I pulled as hard as I could and reeled in a pretty big one. After that my family was catching at least 3 fish every ten minutes, which easily built up to be our dinner that night. I fell in love with fishing that day.

All in all, fishing is one of the things I enjoy most. It is among the most relaxing things I can do, but at the same time, it gets my adrenaline pumping. It brings my family and friends together for quality bonding, while doing what I love to do. If I had to spend a whole day doing something, I would spend it fishing with my friends.